


The Trial

by ideserveyou



Category: Arthur of the Britons
Genre: Angst, First Kiss, M/M, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-23
Updated: 2010-07-23
Packaged: 2017-10-10 18:28:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/102757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ideserveyou/pseuds/ideserveyou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur is testing Kai</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Trial

It is mid-afternoon on a hot day, a couple of weeks after the rescue of the slaves from the quarry, and Arthur and Kai are out hunting. So far they have had little success; the animals have sought the cool of the deep forest and are hard to find. Arthur halts at the top of the western escarpment and waits for Kai to catch up, one dusty hand shading his eyes as he scans the slope down to the river. The water shimmers in the sunlight. Nothing is moving in the landscape, and all he can hear is the buzzing of flies around his horse's ears; even the birds have been silenced by the heat.   
'We'd be better off waiting until the evening,' Kai says from behind him. 'Perhaps when it's cooler the deer will come into the open to feed. Meanwhile, how about a swim in that river?'  
Arthur nods in weary agreement and they turn the horses' heads down the hill.

A short while later the horses, cooled off and watered in the river, are tethered in the shade of a clump of trees near its bank. Their gear and harness are piled at the foot of a big oak. Arthur draws a hand across his damp brow and grins at Kai. 'Last one in the river has to get the firewood!'  
He turns his back and strips off his tunic.  
A sharp indrawn breath from behind him makes him turn his head. Kai is leaning with one hand on the tree trunk for support, his face very white.   
'Kai? What's wrong?' The big Saxon is shaking from head to foot. 'Are you hurt?'  
Kai shakes his head and looks at the ground. Arthur puts his hands on Kai's shoulders.   
'What is it?'  
'I - I did that to you.' Kai forces the words between clenched teeth. 'Those scars -'

Arthur had forgotten all about the whip-weals across his back. He was stiff and sore for a few days after they'd arrived home, but with the combined attentions of Llud and the village healer, he'd mended quickly and simply put them out of his mind. But now he comes to think of it, Kai made an excuse to leave the longhouse whenever the healer arrived... this is the first time he has looked at Arthur's injuries since the day he was forced to inflict them. And in Kai's mind they are clearly still fresh and painful.

'Those scars,' Arthur says firmly and kindly, 'saved my life.'  
But Kai is not comforted.  
'I could tell you which was the first, and which the last. I could tell you the strength of the blow I struck for each and every one of them - and the sound it made - and -'  
'And that for each one of these marks on my body there is an equal mark cut into your heart. I know. But what you did, you had to do. It is forgiven.'  
'I will never forgive myself.' Kai's voice is low and bitter.  
'Look at me, Kai.'   
Slowly, Kai raises his head and meets Arthur's eyes. Arthur smiles at him.  
'There is nothing for which I would not forgive you,' Arthur says. 'Nothing.'

'Not even this?'

With these words, Kai does something that neither of them was expecting: he slides his hands under the glossy dark wings of Arthur's hair and kisses him on the mouth.

For an instant the world dissolves in a blur of pleasure; then Kai feels himself slammed backwards against the tree trunk. Something hard and sharp is at his throat. A dagger point.  
He opens his eyes and meets Arthur's level gaze.  
'I should kill you for that.' Arthur's hand holding the dagger is perfectly steady, like his voice.  
'Yes, you should - and it were best you do it quickly, before the rest of the village finds out and does it slowly, with you alongside me.'  
Kai chokes on a sob; the point of the dagger snicks his jaw.   
He can't read Arthur's expression; there is now no hint of kindness in the dark eyes. No hint of any feeling at all.  
The blood from the cut trickles slowly down his neck as all hope drains from him. The metal is cold against his skin, but not as cold as the misery in his heart.

He doesn't want to live if Arthur can't return his love.

He takes a deep breath and launches his body forward against the dagger point.

It is fortunate for Kai that Arthur's reflexes are lightning fast; he sees the flicker of despair in Kai's eyes, realises his intention, and lets go of the dagger hilt in the nick of time. The weapon clatters unheeded onto the tree roots at their feet, and Kai is in his arms, struggling and sobbing.  
Arthur holds him firmly until he is calmer. At length Kai can speak again.  
'Why... why did you not kill me?'  
'Is there good reason why I should?'  
'You are my lord. And I have dishonoured you... twice over. My life is forfeit.'   
Arthur shakes his head. 'You did me no dishonour. Not the first time, nor the second. I am proud to bear these scars. They are precious because they were dearly bought - I saw the price you paid - and because you gave them to me. You wrote them on my body for all the world to see. But they are not marks of dishonour. They are words of love... are they not, Kai?'  
Kai dares to raise his head and look into Arthur's face; what he sees there sets him aflame with sudden hope.  
'Kai, the scars on my body will heal; the ones on your soul are a different matter. But I will do what I can... And there is no dishonour in love, either.' The beloved voice is a little unsteady. 'Kai, my heart, I am sorry that I made trial of you so. Forgive me... but before I took this risk, I had to know... that you would be willing to die for your love... as I would.'

Kai smiles a smile of pure joy and answers Arthur with his own words.  
'What you did, you had to do. It is forgiven.'

That night by the campfire, washed clean, Arthur hesitates only a moment before coming across to join Kai under his sheepskin blanket.  
And Kai hesitates only a moment before letting him in.

**Author's Note:**

> Be kind! This was my first-ever AotB fic, which I've reconstructed as accurately as I can from memory. It is set a short while after 'The Slaves' and assumes a society where such a relationship would not be tolerated. I thought it might be interesting to share the point at which I started on this journey...


End file.
